Sridhar Vembu, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the bootstrapped tech firm Zoho, took to Twitter on Tuesday to dismiss allegations around the transfer of his shares in the company he founded. It was reported earlier in the day that his estranged wife accused Vembu of abandoning her and their special needs son and transferring some of his stake in the company to prevent them from receiving their fair share.
It is also reported that divorce proceedings are underway between the two which makes the allegations around ownership transfer more serious. In his Twitter response, Vembu termed the media report as ‘slander’ and said that the allegations raised by his soon-to-be-ex-wife are unfounded.
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He went on to state that he never transferred any of his shares in Zoho to anyone else. Further, he has levelled allegations against his uncle, reportedly suffering from terminal cancer, of spreading malicious rumours against him.
The article that Vembu referred to, published by Forbes, had included the court filings made by Vembu’s wife Pramila Srinivasan. The allegations raised by Srinivasan against Vembu deals with the apparent transfer of Vembu’s shares to his sister Radha and brother Sekar. As per reports, Radha owns a 47.8 per cent stake valued around $2.2 billion whereas Sekar’s stake in Zoho amounts to 35.2 per cent at $1.6 billion.
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Vembu’s account of how he has been involved in taking care of his son, afflicted with autism, also goes against Srinivasan’s court filings. The Forbes article also carried conflicting versions of how Zoho came to be, questioning some of the claims that Vembu had made in the past.
